No Strike Yet.

So Far, So Good.They're still talking in Philadelphia. Negotiators for the largest labor unions at the Inky and Daily News said workers would stay on the job past Thursday's midnight strike deadline."We're not finished," Henry Holcomb, president of the Philly Newspaper Guild told the Inky's Joe DiStefano for today's editions.
Negotiators had "made progress" in some areas, but were still dickering over pensions and layoff seniority. Union leaders are scheduled to meet with management again today, and the union will strike if talks reach an impasse. "The contract remains in force until
one side or the other takes some overt action," Holcomb said.Meanwhile, Philly Newspapers LLC boss Citizen Tierney.says "We are all working hard and a great deal of progress is being made,"If reporters and editors walk off the job, management says they'll put out the paper using managers and other non-union employees. Reporters and editors, meanwhile, have set up a counter Web site that they'll use to keep Philadelphians informed.Hope for a resolution in the Guild's favor. No one wants a strike in their stockings this year.The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

Meanwhile, In Chester County.County elections officials are expected to give initial approval to the Nov. 7 results in the 156th House District today, clearing the way for an expected Republican request for a recount in the hotly contested race."We're still considering our options," GOP attorney Lawrence Tabas told the Inky today.
"We have until next Wednesday."The GOP has five days from official certification to file their petition. The clock starts ticking tomorrow.Yesterday, county commissioners, putting on masks and funny hats and pretending they're the Board of Elections, upheld all the challenges to 11 provisional ballots. That means Democrat Barbara McIlvaine Smith is still the winner, and Democrats still have control of the House unless:1. The recount shows something else.2. The Republicans win in court.3. House Speaker John Perzel gets a Democrat to flip, tossing the majority to the GOP.4. The earth is struck by a giant asteroid, plunging us all into eternal winter and forcing us to live like animals to survive. In other words, a regular day in Erie.Elsewhere, Inky news diva Carrie Budoff continues her hugely popular 'blog posts from the frontlines of the recount wars. We're starting to think of her as sort of a suburban Lara Logan. Or maybe a Soccer Mom's Wonkette.We haven't decided yet.

Don't Worry About Mike Veon ...... he'll be just fine.Thanks to his two-decades in the state Legislature, the ousted House Democratic boss can draw a $58,700 annual pension right now, or a $62,500 annual retirement benefit if he waits until he turns 50, the Post-Gazette reports this morning.That's on top of the lifetime of taxpayer-subsidized healthcare Veon will receive for representing Beaver County's 14th District since 1984.
And because Veon accepted last year's unvouchered expense money, his pension will be padded by an extra $3,500 a year, the P-G reported.But that's peanuts compared to outgoing Rep. Jim Shaner, D-Fayette, who will actually make more in retirement than he did while he was (allegedly) working in the General Assembly.Shaner, whose salary was $66,172 this year, will collect about $71,000 a year in retirement benefit. That's roughly $25,000 for his 12 years in Harrisburg and $46,000 for his 33 years as an educator, the P-G reported.Nice work, if you can get it.

The Always Entertaining ...... state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, goes all Alexander Haig in his latest constituent newsletter, where he alternately laments the loss of the House's GOP majority and praises voters' foresight at the polls.'We the People,' Metcalfe argues, are "still in control.""Pennsylvania voters have proven that they still have the ability to remove those from office
who represent self-service rather than public service," he thundered. "The voters have proven that name [identification], incumbent status and special interest money can still be defeated by an informed and active electorate.The subtext here, of course, is: "Thank God, I figured out early that the pay raise was a bad idea. Otherwise, I'd have to get a real job just likeBob Flicktold all those mean reporters they should do."

Metcalfe concludes by noting that, "As I enter my fifth term of service, I am committed to fighting on behalf of Pennsylvania taxpayers (just the ones who are here legally, ed.). I will oppose any and all attempts by the governor to increase the gasoline tax, car registration fees, and any other tax or fee they can dream up."

Around The Dial.Normally, we're not one for talk radio -- of either political stripe. It's not because we don't like it. It's just that we rarely listen to the radio anymore.Still, an e-mail this morning from conservative activist Lowman Henry caught our eye.
Why?Seems Mr. Henry (a onetime Dauphin County commissioner) has his own little radio show on WHYL-AM 960 down in scenic Carlisle. But what really focused our attention was the a programming note that this week's show would feature "Right-Wing Limericks with Al Bienstock." It pretty much stopped us dead in our tracks.We know Al Bienstock. He's a reasonably funny guy. But is there, we wondered, even such a thing as a "right-wing limerick?"Well, we've been sitting here a good 15 minutes now, and we think we've finally got one:There once was a President named Bush.Whose approvals were down near his tush.He upped and fired Rummy, with whom he was once quite chummy.And now he's selling blankets in the Hindu Kush.How's that?

For Those Of You Who Are Wondering ...... our faceless friends at PoliticsPA have posted another of their periodic Up & Down lists.Though we know we shouldn't, we find it endlessly compelling.

In The Blogosphere:Keystone Politics on businessman Tom Knox jumping into the Philly mayoral race; GrassrootsPA has your Friday headlines; Above Average Jane says Democrat Chris Casey will run for Lehigh County commissioner next year; PhillyFuture on labor talks on Broad Street; Tony Phyrillas on Pennsylvania's tax collections (we'd just like to know which Rendell official he's alluding to in his lede); Oh Lord ... The War on Christmas makes its seasonal resurgence; Gort also has the Chris Casey announcement; A Big Fat Slob attracts some scrutiny; PSoTD on conservative 'bloggers; Suburban Guerrilla on incivility; As usual, Dick Polman is an omnivore; I've Made A Huge Tiny Mistake would like you to support PhilaPapers.com; In case you were wondering, Lehigh Valley Crack Addict is not running for office; Shoe-Fly Pie criticizes Scarlett Johansson, which hardly seems fair;Wonkette on Nancy Pelosi's growing problems; DCist has our Picture of the Day (TM); Crooks and Liars on how HHS is now actually telling people they should avoid having sex until they're 30 (Jeez, just because those guys are frustrated, doesn't mean they get to take it out on the rest of us ...), and Absolute Power-Pop has some recommended listening.The 12 Days of YouTube (Day 5):The first week goes out the way it came in, with a clip from one of our favorite Hanna- Barbera cartoons. Anyone remember "Birdman" before Adult Swim got hold of him?

Friday's Gratuitous Hockey Link:Making our night last night, Capitol Ideas' beloved Carolina Hurricanes snapped their losing streak by prevailing over the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-2 decision at home at the RBC Center.